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Global species extinction rates are orders of magnitude above the background rate documented in the fossil record. However, recent data syntheses have found mixed evidence for patterns of net species loss at local spatial scales. For example, two recent data meta-analyses have found that species richness is decreasing in some locations and is increasing in others. When these trends are combined, these papers argued there has been no net change in species richness, and suggested this pattern is globally representative of biodiversity change at local scales. Here we reanalyze results of these data syntheses and outline why this conclusion is unfounded. First, we show the datasets collated for these syntheses are spatially biased and not representative of the spatial distribution of species richness or the distribution of many primary drivers of biodiversity change. This casts doubt that their results are representative of global patterns. Second, we argue that detecting the trend in local species richness is very difficult with short time series and can lead to biased estimates of change. Reanalyses of the data detected a signal of study duration on biodiversity change, indicating net biodiversity loss is most apparent in studies of longer duration. Third, estimates of species richness change can be biased if species gains during post-disturbance recovery are included without also including species losses that occurred during the disturbance. Net species gains or losses should be assessed with respect to common baselines or reference communities. Ultimately, we need a globally coordinated effort to monitor biodiversity so that we can estimate and attribute human impacts as causes of biodiversity change. A combination of technologies will be needed to produce regularly updated global datasets of local biodiversity change to guide future policy. At this time the conclusion that there is no net change in local species richness is not the consensus state of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Education History / Historia Social y de la Educación is the property of Social & Education History / Historia Social y de la Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Within the vast landscape of the Built Environment, where challenges of uncertainty abound, this paper ventures into a detailed exploration of antifragile planning. Antifragility, a concept rooted in the capacity of systems to not only withstand but also thrive in the face of volatility, stands as a beacon of resilience amidst the uncertainties of the Anthropocene. The paper offers a systematic examination of antifragile planning, specifically by concentrating on uncertainty as one of its key theoretical tenets and by exploring the implications of these principles within the context of the Anthropocene. After offering a systematic and comprehensive review of the literature, the analysis delves into several important themes in antifragile planning, including the recognition of limited predictive reliability, critiques of conventional responses to shocks such as urban resilience and smart cities, and the strategic elimination of potential fragilizers through a unique planning methodology. Furthermore, the paper discusses three key arguments challenging the efficacy of antifragility: the systemic approach, the classification of responses to perturbations, and the validity of adaptivity and optionality theses. Specifically, the gaps identified in the antifragile planning methodology reveal its shortcomings in addressing the complexity of cities, its failure to recognize the variety of responses to shocks and perturbations, and its neglect of broader urban relationalities, especially in relation to climate-induced uncertainty. Thus, it is asserted that antifragility remains urbocentric. For these reasons, the paper contends that rectifying the gaps detected in antifragility is necessary to address the uncertainty of the Anthropocene. By aligning largely with emerging posthumanist planning strategies, the paper emphasizes the significance of adopting a proactive approach that goes beyond merely suppressing natural events. This approach involves fostering urban intelligence, contextualizing urban materialities within broader planetary dynamics, and embracing exploratory design strategies that prioritize both the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnography of the Serbian Academy of Sciences & Arts / Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU is the property of Institute of Ethnography, SASA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The chaos caused by the global climate crisis is in the news in many forms and has also entered the consulting room: clients are increasingly naming their fear, despair, rage, and experience of impotence in the face of the unknown. This paper builds on the work of G. Albrecht and J. Bernstein, to investigate how we can face our feelings about climate crisis and live through this time without resorting to unhelpful defenses that block our ability to be present, engaged and effective. It examines the unconscious beliefs, habitual patterns, and defenses of the Western ego, which it presents as the mindset of Economism and the Capitalocene, and investigates its identification with the hero archetype. It pays homage to indigenous analyses of the issue in the work of J. Forbes and I Merculieff, and draws on the work of eco-ethical thinkers such as K. D. Moore, J. Butler, and A. L. Tsing, to suggest that the archetype of the initiate may be a better guide as we move into the uncertain, contingent future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that mapping as a methodology can support localised production, as exemplified in the case study of the design studio Atelier NL which marries contemporary design sensibilities with traditional glass and ceramics craft-making techniques. The paper puts forward the argument that by paying attention to local ecosystem services through mapping, place-based design solutions can be developed. Furthermore, the paper argues that the methodologies deployed by Atelier NL borrow from contemporary art creative mapping practices. This case study uses the framework of the Anthropocene to situate these mapping practices identified within the case study and contextualises these within 20th-century environmental arts practices, and those of the environmental art pioneers the Harrisons in particular. Finally, the paper argues that these mapping practices are responding to the conditions of the Anthropocene which increasingly makes clear that culture and nature are enmeshed, an insight that 19th-century town planner Patrick Geddes argued for more than a century ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades qualitative researchers have used grounded theory methodologies in their investigations. Although the grounded theory literature is extensive, less well documented are qualitative studies which incorporate complementary grounded theory approaches into their designs; or studies that validate the use of grounded theory strategies for applied research projects. This paper seeks to add to both margins of the grounded theory literature. First, it provides a detailed methodological account of how constructivist grounded theory and grounded theory situational analysis were used in a Ph.D. study exploring how ecologically concerned networks understand community resilience and respond to current and anticipated challenges of the Anthropocene, the idea that humans are now the primary influencers of global environmental changes. This account is based on a constructivist grounded theory analysis of nine interviews with Europeans active in the Transition Network at the community or regional level; and a grounded theory situational analysis of the network’s written discourse based on twenty-two English-language texts produced by prominent Transitioners, such as founders, headquarters staff, or national hub teams. Furthermore, while the wider Ph.D. study focused on theory building, analysis activities yielded practical insights into addressing real world problems, such as creating and sustaining collective action at the local level. Hence, the paper also discusses a framework that neighborhoods, towns, or other types of communities could adapt for their own collective purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by recounting a tale of two Sophias: a humanoid robot and an 'illegal' baby immigrant. The tale of two Sophias locates my initial ideas for reflecting on how critical posthumanism might contribute to youth work theory and practice. In this paper I position youth work as a philosophical encounter, whilst also questioning the humanist legacy that lies at the heart of youth work theory. Drawing on the work of Rosi Braidotti and other critical posthuman feminists, I consider how youth work might respond to the posthuman predicament marked by the intersecting forces of advanced capitalism and growing inequalities, the fourth industrial revolution, the digital divide, and advances in Artificial Intelligence, climate change, and environmental destruction. I conclude by providing some reflections on how critical posthuman theory may provide a lens through which young people might consider what it means to be human in the technologically mediated Anthropocene, and also as a paradigm for embracing new possibilities and a praxis of hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Filozofija i Drustvo is the property of University of Belgrade, Institute for Philosophy & Social Theory and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Angles: French Perspectives on the Anglophone World is the property of Societe des Anglicistes de l Enseignement Superieur and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies a discussion about posthumanism between the two influential feminist philosophers Rosi Braidotti and Donna Haraway in the journal, Theory, Culture & Society 23, no. 7-8 in 2006. In the journal Braidotti describes Haraway’s thinking as “high posthumanism”, while Haraway, interviewed in the journal, on the other hand is very critical of the term. She prefers thinking with other terms such as cyborgs, companion species or the Chthulucene. With the starting point in this historical discussion, the paper traces it into Braidotti’s recent book Posthuman Feminism (2021) and Haraway’s Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016). A central concern in the discussion is the critical subject: How can the critical subject be understood and operate in a posthumanist framework? Can there be critical potentials in more-than-human positions and perspectives? How to think critical subjectivity as relational with other species and the material world? Based on these questions, the paper investigates posthuman feminism through more-than-human perspectives on the critical subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the inadequacy of the Western frameworks in addressing climate change, there is a need to integrate indigenous knowledge systems into the global framework to harness climate sustainability. The historical marginalization of the indigenous people in India in the colonial era has continued through the present postcolonial era, leading to environmental exploitation and social dislocation of the Adivasis. This has resulted in a severance of the transmission of sustainable practices embedded in the tribal cultures into the global framework. Advocating for the integration of indigenous ecological wisdom into global strategies, this paper will highlight the significance of tribal festivals like 'Sarhul,' 'Baha,' and 'Kunde Habba' in reinforcing climate resilience. Indian tribal festivals have traditionally popularised sustainable practices and rituals to stay in harmony with nature, and the sacred sites located in the indigenous communities function as sites for rituals and festivals fostering ecological sustainability. This paper explores how tribal art forms like 'Warli' and 'Gond' art imbue communities with ecological consciousness and resilience, and through storytelling and artistic expressions, it raises awareness about climate issues and empowers communities to safeguard ecosystems vital for all life forms. This paper asserts that traditional performance cultures, manifested through rituals, dances, and art, serve as catalysts for sustainable practices, biodiversity conservation, and community resilience, and advocates for a recentring of the indigenous performances to resist Anthropocentric and Capitalocentric practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the convergence of affect theory and cognitive narratology. I investigate the methodological potential of a cognitive narratology informed by affect as found in the (autonomous) intensities and resonances that circulate about and between bodies (Gregory J. Seigworth and Melissa Gregg). By adopting Brian Massumi's configuration of affect (as asymbolic, autonomous and asubjective), I aim to explore how this conception can account for nonhuman (narrative) agents and open up space for alternative forms of environmental situatedness in cognitive narratology. Expanding upon the "4E" cognitive model, I trace the enmeshment of human and non-human agents within the metaphorical pattern of Ann Pancake's 2007 novel Strange as This Weather Has Been. I undertake an analysis of multiple extra- and inter-textual vectors to show how these metaphors underscore a view of cognition as participating in a field of affective intensities and becomings and highlight its emergence as entangled in a world of material interdependencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of EU-topías: A Journal on Interculturality, Communication & European Studies is the property of Universite de Geneve, Global Studies Intitute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Filozofski Vestnik is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Transboundary issues - from (chemical) pollution, land-use change to unsustainable levels of exploitation - have been eroding natural sites across Europe, reducing biodiversity in the process. In light of this, this paper analyses the comprehensiveness of EU environmental law, appraising its underlying ethos in the process. Additionally, it explores whether a Natureship Framework Directive at the European Union (EU) level, which establishes legal personality for natural sites, can deliver a 'change of course' with respect to the anthropocentric view underpinning environmental law as a pressing thought experiment. It constructs a (fictive) law which grants natural sites substantive and procedural rights, conceptualising how such an instrument may take shape. One finding is that an EU Natureship may be a robust tool to address flaws within EU environmental law. For example, the attribution of legal personality to natural sites alongside the appointment of formal representatives can significantly relieve the burden for NGOs and the European Commission, which may suffer from limited resources when it comes to judicial enforcement of environmental norms (or, alternatively, ecological rights). Other benefits pertain to nature management, which may be less complex and more politically stable under the approach put forward in this paper. An EU Natureship, therefore, may provide a vehicle to shift EU environmental law from the anthropocentric to the ecocentric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the humanities and social sciences, the concept of the Anthropocene has become the starting point for theoretical analyses of the immediate relationship between the environmental preconditions for the existence of civilization and the human actions whose consequences threaten these preconditions. From the philosophical-anthropological point of view, reflections on the concepts of the Anthropocene focus not only on a critical analysis of the claims about human that originate in the natural sciences but also on an understanding of the overall role of humanity in the new geological-climatic regime of the Earth. The primary purpose of this paper is to highlight two-pronged problem areas, which include both the problem of anthropological constants as specific ways of making statements about humans and the problem of using them to reflect on the conceptual system of the Anthropocene. In particular, this paper emphasizes hypotheses and claims from the Anthropocene concept of Earth System Science that point to humans becoming a geobiophysical force in the Anthropocene. Three areas in which anthropological constants could be subsequently subjected to a deeper analysis are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-industrial society is driving global environmental change, which is a challenge for all generations, current and future. The Anthropocene is the geological epoch in which humans dominate and it is rooted in the past, present, and future. Future sustainability is building on the momentum of the fundamental importance of studying human dynamics and governance of coupled social and ecological systems. In the Anthropocene, social innovation may play a critical role in achieving new pathways to sustainability. This conventional narrative review uses a qualitative analysis anchored in the Grounded Theory Method and a systematic collection and analysis of papers to identify broad types of social innovations. Scientific journal articles published since 2018 were prioritised for inclusion. The six types of social innovation proposed are (a) authentic engagement; (b) artful and engaging communication; (c) urging and compelling change; (d) governance for social-ecological systems; (e) anticipation in governance; and (f) lived experiences and values. The six innovations proposed in this paper can be embedded within, and form part of, social action using a science-society compact for the sustainable development of coasts in the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any scientific career is a mix of planning and stochastic events, often with a fair share of the latter. I illustrate this by the evolution of my own career. Ecosystem studies of food webs under the impact of eutrophication (Master), and carbon cycling in DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon)-rich lakes (PhD) led me to elemental ratios in organisms and the establishment of ecological stoichiometry. The role of phosphorus (P) in cellular processes again led to research on the evolution and regulation of genome size. As climate came higher on the agenda, it was time to apply the basic research on the C-cycle and climate in a wider context. As natural scientists, we should also engage in even wider contexts, and I have enjoyed discussions and co-operation with philosophers, psychologist, and social scientists. This helps seeing our own work in context. We should also reflect on why we do science. I have always felt that science should also add purpose to life by giving something back to society, and I have devoted much time to outreach, public talks, debates, and writing popular science books. It takes some time, but it is also rewarding and important—perhaps even more so than yet another paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this editorial for our Special Issue, we focus on ways to better understand the role of organizations, organizing, and the organized during social and institutional change in response to disruption, division, and displacement. The papers in this Special Issue provide important insights into the hardships and heartache arising from social disruption, division, and displacement; in addition, they provide glimpses into potential ways of moving forward. To set the stage, we develop a framework building on extant literature that highlights several analytic approaches to understanding the consequences of eroding, or inadequate, institutions, the challenges of building anew when the status quo is destroyed, and what such novel and complex realities entail for organizational analysis. We offer a temporal view of responses to disruption, division, and displacement that draws on the papers in this Special Issue to identify and explain potential risks and challenges that arise at different points in time. To conclude, we provide a short summary of each paper, and call for a reinvigorated research agenda that goes beyond the excellent work featured here by broadening and deepening our focus on approaches to organizing that expressly address disruption, division, and displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Postscriptum Polonistyczne is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Posthumanism as an ontological philosophy contemplates the nature of reality and existence, and the notions of being and becoming in a techno-modified world. Posthumanism displaces man from his privileged position as the master of his universe and generates multiplicity of interpretations and theoretical perspectives. Technological and evolutionary theories of human enhancement and radical life-extension, constructed around the idea of the posthuman, position man firmly within his material milieu where he co-habits with other non-human life forms. The traditional notion of the human body as a sacrosanct entity has given way to the concept of the human as an embodied and embedded being. Technological posthumanism debilitates the grand narrative of anthropocentricsm and celebrates plurality, hybridity and diversity as the defining traits of future humanity. In the age of the Anthropocene, humans have evolved into a geological force directly influencing and determining the fate of millions of non-human species. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the corporeal frame hastening our march towards the posthuman era as we seek ways to transcend the limitations of our body with the aid of technology. The proposed paper tries to understand how the pandemic has reconstituted traditional notions of the corporeal self, human subjectivity and identity in the age of the Anthropocene. The paper would also consider technology as an ontological manifestation, in the specific context of the pandemic, focusing on its potential to re-engineer 'human' in anticipation of the posthuman future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Posthuman Ecology, anthropocentrism, based on the binary division between the privileged human and the 'other', gets deconstructed, leading to an acknowledgment of humans as essentially tangled in an intricate web of the natural world. In such ecologies, boundaries between the human and the more-than-human (non-human) worlds become porous, creating fluid identities and conditions of being within a framework of active interplay between the human and the non-human world. The ecology of folktales is replete with Posthumanism, as their narratives consistently break the unbridgeable gap between the human, non-human, and the spiritual and/or supernatural worlds and present certain non-naturalist ontologies that are mostly at odds with naturalism or modern empirical science. Such tales provided much-needed templates for sustainable development in the time of the Anthropocene. This paper attempts to study Easterine Kire's When the River Sleeps (2014) as a posthumanist narrative where Vilie (a hunter) goes on a fantastical journey to find a fabled magical stone from the bottom of the 'sleeping river'. Vilie's journey comes out as a playground for both mundane and fantastic elements. He grows as a human being, and this happens as he transacts with the non-human and the supernatural world and comes across deep metaphysical questions and presents keys to understanding balance-in-transcendence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amitav Ghosh entitles the opening section of his nonfiction on climate change The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2017) as "Stories." Here, Ghosh highlights the significance of stories and storytelling practices in re-imagining our age of global warming and climate change. He displays how stories function as stimuli for the resurgence of our imaginative power to re-cognize the "unthinkable", the non-human world and the intricate relations between humans, nonhumans and the natural environment. Drawing upon the insightful studies of the ecological aesthetics of stories and storytelling in the age of Anthropocene, the paper discusses how environmental storytelling as part of indigenous orality is reinvented by Ghosh in his latest fiction The Living Mountain: A Fable for Our Times (2022) which tends to look at the Anthropocene through the prism of empire and capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the video game Plasticity as a compelling narrative medium that represents and critiques the ecological ramifications of plastic consumption in the Anthropocene era. The game’s dystopian setting, where players navigate through environments devastated by plastic waste, serves as a metaphor for the real-world issues of waste management and environmental neglect. By integrating theories from material ecocriticism and close gaming methodologies, this paper analyses Plasticity both as a piece of eco-fiction and as an interactive experience that challenges players to reflect on their own consumption habits. The game’s design and player agency are highlighted as tools that expose the often invisible consequences of waste disposal practices. I argue that Plasticity utilizes the concept of Chthulucene aesthetics, which I define as an approach that embraces ecological entanglement and multispecies perspectives, challenging traditional views of beauty by finding harmony in environmental disturbances and the interconnectedness of all life forms, to illuminate the strategic invisibility of plastic waste. The analysis reveals the game’s potential to open a space for interpretation of what remains in the dark by practices dictated as normal in terms of plastic waste disposal practices in the Anthropocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of information literacy (IL) research, the Anthropocene age offers an opportunity for researchers to explore to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the complexity of information literacy which result from rapid and complex social, political and economic change; to address the risk of societal fragmentation which is created by misinformation/disinformation; and to understand the risk to democratically encouraged information environments that will come with increasing incorporation of AI and opinion-driven social platforms into everyday life. For library practitioners who provide instruction or education, challenges exist in relation to scaffolding and encouraging sustainable, transferrable information and technological practices, not only in our own inward facing professional practice but in our outward facing practice with the myriad communities we support. Against this problematisation, this brief, but broad ranging paper aims to identify a range of questions for thinking about the practice of IL in the Anthropocenic age. No attempt is made to answer these questions, instead they act as an impetus for future researchers and practitioner researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What stories of religion matter in the age of the Anthropocene? This paper begins by situating the Abundance Crochet Coral Reef, an installation of crocheted coralline landscapes exhibited at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, as a methodological motif and enactment to think creatively about and with the study of religion in the Anthropocene. Journeying through the current trends in various fields in the study of religion that are responsive to Anthropocene concerns, I argue that there is a growing body of scholarly work that troubles the dualisms and hierarchies of humannature and nature-culture that have informed, and indeed, dominated, conceptualizations about religion and the study of religion. Finally, I turn to feminist theory to continue to in-tune religion storytelling (the study of religion) to the challenges of the Anthropocene. Drawing inspiration from the Abundance Crochet Coral Reef, I explore the concept of kinship to open creative vistas for methodological enrichment in the study of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show how the dire state of the Earth's rivers entangles intimately with 'thingifying' processes at the heart of colonial modernity. Known in many precolonial and Indigenous contexts as person‐like kin, we describe how rivers the world over have been re‐done primarily as thing—amoral, controllable, a potential commodity like anything else.We develop and work with a provisory concept of kin as those constituents of environments that reciprocally nurture, and contribute to the substance of, one another's life and wellbeing.We show how kinship with rivers figures centrally in primarily Indigenous‐led struggles in various regions of the globe for the recognition and enforcement of river personhood and rights. This is partly because people are motivated to fight passionately for their kin.With some careful caveats, we argue that associating river kinship exclusively with Indigenous worlds undermines its potential for global impact. Thus, as an apposite case study, the latter part of the paper focuses on some of the social–ecological trends which we suggest are opening up the possibility for the re‐establishment of 'riverkinship' in the United Kingdom.We reflect on the potential for riverkinship to help cultivate political constellations fitting to the challenges of the Anthropocene. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accepting that nature and culture are intricately co-evolved has profound implications for the ethical, legal, philosophical and pragmatic dimensions of social and environmental policy. The way we think about nature affects how we understand and manage ecosystems. While the ideals of preserving wilderness and conserving ecosystems have motivated much conservation effort to date, achieving these ideals may not be feasible under Anthropocene conditions unless communities accept custodial responsibilities for landscapes and other species. This paper's origins are in the author's work with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council representing Indigenous traditional owners in Australia's Kimberley region. These landscapes, shaped by 60,000 years of human occupation, interweave knowledge, laws and governance regimes, and material and spiritual connections with country. This interweaving offers insights into options for dealing with humanity's complex sustainability challenges. The paper also draws on the literature about cultural landscapes, ecological design, agroecology and permaculture to explore options for applying ecological design as a planning and problem-solving framework. The paper concludes that design-based approaches offer significant opportunities for using ecological science to integrate conservation and production in agricultural landscapes in ways that can meet human needs while also conserving biodiversity under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acknowledging an undeniable need for innovation, this paper offers a qualitative assessment for recognition and policy advocacy for superior innovations—for new wood products and processes offering more benefits and fewer drawbacks than other innovations. The paper highlights the irrationality of using the limited natural and human-made goods of the world to produce and consume inferior innovations, especially when they fail to mitigate or, in fact, contribute to worsening climate change. Raymond Williams' "structures of feeling" are used to disclose evaluative commitments associated with the "new" characteristic of industrialized and indigenous civilizations toward illuminating potential pathways for halting an otherwise seemingly unstoppable engine of climate change from pushing all of life on Earth over its precipice. Discussing how the "new" is always implicated in the "old," decision-making and design methods applicable over the whole of the value chain are proposed for generating "new" innovations and processes that are genuinely able to change the current world trajectory of our species. Future research is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]